In May, 2017 coinciding with Rainbow Days 2017 celebrations, the National LGBT* rights organization LGL displayed posters in the public spaces of Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda, seeking to draw attention to the discrimination LGBT* people face and encouraging others to speak up in the face of discrimination. The posters, displayed in bus shelters around Vilnius,

Despite the appeal by the National LGBT* Rights Organization LGL, the Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė signed the amendments to the Law on Equal Opportunities into the law on 24th July, 2017. The amendments in question were passed by the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania on 11th July, 2017 and establish a definition of “family

On July 11th, 2017 the National LGBT* Rights Organization LGL appealed to Dalia Grybauskaitė, the President of the Republic of Lithuania, asking to veto the amendments to the Law on Equal Opportunities of the Republic of Lithuania and return them to the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania for further considerations. If approved, the proposed

On June 16th, 2017 the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) informed the Lithuanian Government that it will consider a petition by Pijus Beizaras and Mangirdas Levickas regarding refusal by the national authorities to investigate into instances of homophobic hate speech online. Applicants, who are represented by the National LGBT* Rights Organization LGL, claim that

On 8th July, 2017 the Baltic Pride in Tallinn invited all supporters of a fair, equal, and inclusive society to march in the first LGBT+ event in Tallinn in ten years. The representatives of the National LGBT* rights organization LGL also participated in the the Baltic Pride 2017 celebrations in Tallinn. The Baltic Pride LGBT+

In May, 2017 coinciding with Rainbow Days 2017 celebrations, the National LGBT* rights organization LGL displayed posters in the public spaces of Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda, seeking to draw attention to the discrimination LGBT* people face and encouraging others to speak up in the face of discrimination. The posters, displayed in bus shelters around Vilnius,

On 10th August, 2017 LGBT* Community Centre of the National LGBT* rights organization LGL hosted an event “Come and Choose Your Future”. Ieva Galkytė, the Spacialist of the European Information Centre, joined us with a workshop-presentation about the European Union opportunities for young people. This community event brought people together not only from Lithuania but

On 8th August, 2017 the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Lithuania announced that it had finished verifying signatures in support of the European citizens’ initiative “Mum, Dad and Kids – European Citizens’ Initiative to Protect Marriage and Family”. While verifying signatures collected in support of the initiative, the Commission found that 34,324 Lithuanian

Members of Australia’s ruling party on Monday blocked efforts to allow a conscience vote in the country’s parliament on whether to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported only seven members of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Liberal Party-led coalition voted in favor of allowing lawmakers to vote on the issue. The

On August 1st-6th, 2017 the Policy Coordinator (Human Rights) of the National LGBT* Rights Organization LGL participated in the “Hamburg Pride – Christopher Street Day“ 2017 festival in Hamburg (Germany). The main slogan of the festival, namely – “Discrimination is No Alternative” (in German “Diskriminierung ist keine Alternative“) – is meant to raise awareness by

On 4th August, 2017 representatives of the National LGBT* Rights Organization LGL Roberta Matusevičiūtė, Project Manager, and Eglė Kuktoraitė Communications Coordinator, participated in SafeTALK training on suicide prevention organized by the Vilnius Public Health Centre. SafeTALK is a four-hour course that helps participants become conscious about the subject of suicide. SafeTALK training is aimed to

On 31st July, 2017 European Volunteering Service (EVS) volunteers Tatiana and Giordano prepared another community event on the premises of LGL’s LGBT* Center. This time they presented various European projects and initiatives, as well as their own experience with the National LGBT* Rights Organization LGL as volunteers. Moreover, Tatiana and Giordano were joined by Maciek

‘From now on, no spouse will have to face the indignity of having their relationship denied.’ South Australia’s reforms for recognition of same-sex couples married overseas and anti-discrimination against intersex people came into effect today. The changes to the law happened after UK citizen David Bulmer-Rizzi died on his honeymoon in South Australia in 2015.

In Iran, being gay is punishable by death. This means the possibility of a large Pride march through the capital remains a long time away. But a burgeoning group of LGBTI people are not waiting for the perfect day, they are taking a stand now. In Amsterdam, Iranians will have its first boat in the

On July 27th, 2017 the National LGBT* Rights Organization LGL and the Human Rights Monitoring Institute (HRMI) informed the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe about the process of executing the judgement in the case L. v. Lithuania by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) at the national level. The civil society

Activist Academy 2017 is a first edition of five days long intensive skills-based training programme for young people who are interested in LGBTQI+ rights. It is organized by IGLYO (The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Youth & Student Organisation). This year the hosting organization was Lambda Jugendnetzwerk and it took place in Berlin, on